


How Few There are Who Have Courage Enough to Own Their Faults, Or Resolution Enough to Mend Them

by JetGirl1832, tomatopudding



Series: The Hamilton Family Album [44]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Arguments, Bipolar Disorder, Depression, Drama, Forgiveness, Gen, Mental Health Issues, Sibling Rivalry, the one you've all been waiting for
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-16
Updated: 2016-09-16
Packaged: 2018-08-15 07:49:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8048269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JetGirl1832/pseuds/JetGirl1832, https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomatopudding/pseuds/tomatopudding
Summary: A bad day leads to a big fight, Alexander and Eliza are at a loss when an argument leaves Angie and AJ not speaking to each other. AKA: The moment you've all been waiting for. (Title is appropriately a quote from Benjamin Franklin)





	How Few There are Who Have Courage Enough to Own Their Faults, Or Resolution Enough to Mend Them

**Author's Note:**

> The day has come, for weeks you have been begging us to see the "big fight" between Angie and AJ. We hope it answers questions and was what you expected.

2011

It had just been one of those does, AJ knew even when he woke up it was just going to be one of those days. One of those days that just sucked no matter what you did about it. For starters he didn't turn in his homework because he had managed to leave it on the printer the night before and Mr. Adams was refusing to to listen to him and it had been marked as a zero. Strike one.

Then during lunch he tripped and fell splattering his entire tray all over himself, which meant he spent nearly the whole time trying to clean it off. Strike two.

Now just when he thought the day might have a chance of redeeming itself Angie was waiting in the car blaring the horn calling for him to hurry it up. 

"AJ get over here right now or you need to find your own way home!" Angie hollered.

"What is her problem?" AJ muttered, not like he and Angie fighting was exactly anything new. 

He was standing outside the school building talking with Harper, the boy he was now realizing he probably had a crush on. As if he didn't have other things to worry about. 

"Can we hang out this weekend?" Harper asked smiling.

"Sure," AJ smiled as well his heart fluttering in the way it tended to do when he was around Harper, ignoring his older sister. 

"What time?" Harper asked, leaning closer. 

And okay maybe AJ was taking advantage of that, closing the distance between them even further. Not that Harper seemed to mind. 

"I don't know-"

 

"Come on, Junior!"

AJ flinched away, flushed with embarrassment. 

"Maybe you should go," Harper sighed, "I'll call you?"

"Sure," AJ muttered shifting his backpack. 

"See ya later," Harper squeezed his shoulder.

AJ sighed, "Bye."

"I'm starting the car!" Angie called out.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" AJ approached the car, "god what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Nothing," Angie glared, "I just want to go home, get in."

AJ got into the front seat not having any idea as to why Angie was behaving the way she was, but at this point he really didn't care. Strike Three.

Now Angie had her own set of problems she was dealing with.

Angie's day hadn't actually started badly. She'd woken up before her alarm and had plenty of time to get herself ready. No, the problems had only started after her morning dose of meds had kicked in. The fact that her dose had just been upped certainly didn't help.

For nearly the past week she'd been trying to cope with this, some days were good and some days were bad. On the bad days the usually outgoing Hamilton would try and keep her distance from others. But there were times when the world had other plans for her.

Today was one of those days. The feeling set in around the time she pulled into the high school parking lot and everything went downhill from there.

Now it's not like Angie even liked Econ on a good day, and if it wasn’t for her father she was certain that she would never understand half of what was going on in Mr. Reed's classroom.

She was usually content to sit in the back of the classroom and doze, but today she felt so uncomfortable in her own skin she couldn't sit still. The fidgeting was probably was drew Mr. Reed's attention to her.

"Miss. Hamilton?"

Angie blushed, this exactly what she didn't need right now... Why was this happening?

"Is there perhaps something you would like to share with the class on the subject at hand?" Mr. Reed asked.

Angie shook her head and looked away.

"Are you sure?" Mr. Reed prodded.

"Nope," Angie replied.

Mr. Reed backed off, but that indescribable feeling of wrongness that pervaded her on these kind of days didn't subside. She was so focused on sitting and breathing that she didn't even try to pretend to listen to what he was saying. 

"Miss Hamilton?"

Angie flinched and looked up. 

"The effects of inflation in GDP in our current economical climate, Miss Hamilton," Mr. Reed said.

Certainly the way he asked her seemed polite enough but there was that look on his face. Philip had warned her about Mr. Reed and him always grilling him for the latest about their father, good or bad and he'd done the exact same thing to her. Today Angie decided she'd had enough.

"I'm not my father!" Angie snapped rising to her feet, "go talk to him!" she pushed her chair out of the way and stormed out of the classroom hearing the sounds of her classmates chattering as they watched her go. Angie had spent the rest of the class period closed in a bathroom stall. 

Eventually Angie calmed herself so that she could continue on with her day.

At least she had music right before lunch, even if she'd rather just be playing the piano and not listening to the teacher drone about things she already knew. Still, it was nice to have a class where she didn't have to focus.

But she wasn't even fifteen minutes into her class when there was a knock at the door. Angie stiffened as the school guidance counsellor entered the room.

"Angelica Hamilton?" 

Angie blushed, tried to pretend that this wasn't really happening. 

"Come with me, please."

Angie heard someone snicker. She quickly grabbed her bag and strode from the room, breezing past the guidance counsellor and coming to a halt in the hallway, her shoulders tensed.

"We're going to have a talk in my office,” said Ms. Harris. 

"Why?" Angie replied sharply.

"Miss Hamilton," the counsellor sighed, rubbing her brow, "I know you've been having a difficult time lately..."

That was when Angie tuned Ms. Harris out, following her blindly towards the guidance office. Everyone was always saying that, as if they knew what she was feeling. As if they had any clue. No one understood as much as they said they did so Angie passed through the rest of the day in a haze grateful for when the bell rang and she went to go and get the car.

There was nothing Angie wanted to do more than to just go home and pretend this day never even happened. If she could help it she was certain she would never tell her parents either. She turned the car on almost forgetting she had to take AJ home.

She saw him standing in front of the school building talking to another boy, probably a classmate, and some other day she might have wondered about how close they were standing or the pleased flush to AJ's cheeks, but today she was having none of it. 

Once she'd gotten AJ to finally get into the car, Angie began the drive home. 

"I can't believe you called me Junior in front of my friend," AJ grumbled.

"It worked didn't it?" Angie put the car in drive.

“That's not the point. It's embarrassing," AJ said. 

"And I wanted to go home," Angie shot back, "so I needed you to get your ass in gear."

"Because it's all about you," AJ grumbled. 

Angie stiffened, "What was that?"

"It's true," AJ scoffed, "it's always about you and it always will be-"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Angie replied as she began to drive.

AJ let out a snort of derision, "Right. Even when something happens to someone else you make it about you. Philip's the one who got shot you know, not you."

"You think I want to feel this way?" Angie snapped, taking a turn particularly sharply. 

"I don't care," said AJ, "I just don't care, alright? I get that you're feeling bad or weird or whatever but would it be so much to ask for mom and dad to, I don't know, pay some attention to me for once?"

"Excuse me?" Angie furrowed her brow, "what makes you think that I-"

"Oh like we all don't know you're dad's favorite," AJ rolled his eyes, "you are his little Angel after all..."

"AJ, I really am not in the mood for this right now," grumbled Angie, "I've had a bad day and I just want to go home right now."

"Oh, you've had a bad day, I'm so sorry," AJ drawled, "Does it matter that I've also had a bad day? Of course not. You've had a bad day, so obviously that means we need to ignore everyone else in the world. Who cares about other problems when daddy's little angel has had a bad day."

"Will you shut up?" Angie snapped slamming the breaks hard as they came to a red light.

"What the fuck Ange!" AJ grumbled rubbing the spot on his shoulder where the seat belt had caught him.

"You are really getting on my last nerve here," Angie said hotly. 

"And you've been getting on my last nerve for years," AJ shot back.

"Then get out," Angie spoke through gritted teeth, "if you can’t deal with me then get out."

Despite her words, Angie floored it when the light turned green, not giving AJ a chance to get out even if he wanted to.

\----------

Eliza had just gotten Lizzie and William up from their naps and she was just waiting for her elder children to come home from school and various activities. She settled William with a coloring book at the kitchen table as she bustled around making an afternoon snack, Lizzie on her hip.

She expected Angie and AJ home first seeing as they had no activities after school that day. But what she hadn't expected was the mood they would be in.

She was glad that the youngest kids were awake already, because the front door slammed closed with such a force that a picture nearly fell off the wall. Then the shouting started. Or rather, from what he could tell, the shouting continued.

Keeping Lizzie close Eliza went to investigate although the bulk of the problem seemed pretty obvious. Angie and AJ were fighting once again.

It wasn't strange to see them fighting, but it had never been this intense. They were both shouting over each other and Eliza would barely understand what they were saying. 

"I can't believe you--"

"What would make you think--"

"You little piece of--"

"Angelica," Eliza interrupted sharply.

And just like that Angie stopped, she looked at her mother instantly feeling embarrassed and her face flushed.

"What is going on here?" Eliza looked at the two of them before adding, "one at a time please."

"What's the point?" AJ said, "It's obvious that out of the two of us the person you'll believe is the little princess."

With that, he turned on his heel and stalked away. The slamming of his bedroom door was heard soon after. Eliza looked over at Angie, it was still obvious that she was angry but it also appeared that she had the beginnings of tears in her eyes.

"Angie," she said gently, "tell me what's wrong?"

Angie sniffled, wrapping her arms around herself. 

"Bad day," she mumbled, "It not important. I'm already enough of a burden, you guys spend so much attention on me that AJ thinks he doesn't matter."

"Oh no sweetie," Eliza approached her, "that's not true, you know it's not true, we love all of you so much."

Angie brushed a stray tear from her eye, "But you do, and ever since..." she paused, "everyone treats me differently now, like they're going to break me just by talking to me."

"Angie..."

"This is just proving his point," Angie said, "AJ said he had a bad day, you should be talking to him. I'm going to bed."

"Angie," Eliza tried again, "it's only four thirty."

Angie didn't reply, but her door closed much more softly than AJ's had.

Eliza tried to continue with her day but she couldn't stop her thoughts from wandering to AJ and Angie. And upon Alex's return from work the problem became even more obvious.

"It's awfully quiet around here," Alex noted as he entered the kitchen and kissed Eliza on the cheek.

"Angie and AJ had some kind of big blow up today," Eliza said with a sigh, "Neither of them have left their rooms since they got home from school."

Alex furrowed his brow, "What?"

"Whatever it is started long before they came home," Eliza explained, "I don't know what to do... It's never been this bad before."

"Do you know what the argument is about?" asked Alex. 

"AJ seems to have gotten it unit his head that we don't love him as much as we love Angie," Eliza replied. 

Alex looked stricken, "How could he possibly think that?"

"Well..." Eliza thought back on what Angie had said earlier as well, "we have been focusing a lot on her lately-"

"Because she needs us," Alex stressed.

"I know that she needs us," said Eliza, "but so does AJ. And if he's feeling neglected then we need to fix it."

Alex sighed knowing full well that Eliza was right, "I know."

"We can fix this," Eliza stressed, "I know we can."

And they tried, they really tried but for the next two weeks Angie and AJ flat out refused to speak to each other. AJ woke early and took the bus to school so that he wouldn't have to be in the car alone with her and while it had become clear that Angie felt better after switching medications she still made no move to break the silence either.

Finally Alex and Eliza had enough of this and they were determined to end it. The younger kids could obviously feel the tension and it was getting difficult to keep everyone in check. 

The two of them had discussed several situations of trying to resolve how to end this tension between Angie and AJ. The conclusion they reached was they would talk to them one on one to hear them out before forcing them together.

Alex had originally been in favor of locking them in a room together until they'd worked it out, but Eliza had vetoed that idea. Leaving Jamie in charge of his younger siblings, Alex went to talk to AJ while Eliza approached Angie. It was a Friday and, as had become the norm in the past weeks, both of the older kids had been closed in their rooms since they had both gotten home from school.

It took some time but they finally were able to extract them from their respective rooms in the hopes of getting them to talk to one another again.

Alex gave up his office for the cause. AJ was on the desk chair, his elbows resting on his knees, and Angie sat on the floor with her back resting against the wall. They were both silent for a long while, the only sound in the room was the noises from outside the closed office door of their younger siblings playing and dinner being prepared. 

Angie and AJ slowly made eye contact but still they both refused to speak.

Finally, it was AJ who broke the silence. 

"Angie?"

Angie simply looked at him, holding her tongue and waiting for him to say his piece. 

AJ faltered and sighed, hanging his head. 

"I'm really sorry," he said, a slight waver in his voice, "I didn't...I was having a bad day and that's not excuse, but I said some things and...I know it's not your fault," he looked up and met her eyes again, "the whole...depression...thing. I know it's not your fault and that was awful for me to say."

"Thank you," Angie replied tersely, the tensions still palpable, "I should apologize too... I was also being a jerk," she sighed.

"It's okay," AJ said, "I know that you were having a problem with--"

"No," Angie interrupted, "please don't use my mental issues as an excuse, they aren't all I am."

"But-"

"I don't to hear it," Angie held up her hand, "the last thing I want is anyone treating me differently, especially not you or any of the others... I'm still Angie," she gave a small smile.

"Ange," AJ said, "I know we don't get along very well, but...you know I love you right?"

"Aw hell..." Angie laughed as she wiped a tear from her eye, she slowly rose to her feet and went to embrace her younger brother, "come here you."

AJ wrapped his arms around her and tucked his chin over her shoulder. He was growing quickly, but he was still just short enough to do that.

"We are never going to fight like this ever again," Angie spoke seriously, "okay?"

"Okay," AJ replied.

"Promise?" Angie asked, suddenly sounding very young. 

"Promise," replied AJ, squeezing her tightly.

**Author's Note:**

> Ages:  
> Angie-16  
> AJ-14


End file.
